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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 124 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. He has no idea where the ________________ is.
  2. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  3. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  4. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  5. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  6. False peace will not ________________.
  7. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  10. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  11. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  12. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  13. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  14. Tom was very happy that his son returned home ________________ and sound.
  15. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  16. The King held a masked ________________.
  17. Is it ________________ for us to be here?
  18. How do you ________________ your surname?
  19. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  20. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  23. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  24. The water is too ________________.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. safe — a strongbox
  2. spell — a short time
  3. spell — magic
  4. ball — a great time
  5. mine — an explosive
  6. last — to go on
  7. mine — belonging to me
  8. cold — an illness
  9. clip — a video
  10. last — final
  11. can — to be able to
  12. mine — for digging
  13. can — a tin
  14. safe — out of danger
  15. ball — a round shape
  16. ball — a dance
  17. safe — out of danger
  18. spell — letters
  19. can — a tin
  20. last — finally
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. clip — to cut
  23. clip — for paper
  24. cold — not warm

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com